2025 Meal Planners!

[Citygirlrurallife]

Here it is - all welcome, long termers and newbies, I imagine this week is leftovers leftovers leftovers and kicking off from Thursday onwards.

ive gone back to Oddbox and our deliveries now come on Friday nights so I’m going to try to force my brain to meal plan Thursday-Thursday and have delivery on Thursdays to make it happen. Won’t happen this week but hopefully from next

We’re still super snowy here, so a stodgy menu:

M - macaroni cheese with broccoli and garlic bread
T - chorizo Mexican rice with avocado and fried egg
W - buttermilk chicken things out of the freezer with chips and salad
Th - veggie stir fry with black bean sauce and noodles
F - lasagne (Sainsbury’s dine-in thing, not home made) and peas
S - pizza takeaway. DP is away at a football thing all day, back 8ish, and will order it as his train gets in

Ok super struggled to do this!

Have been researching and found the cherrypick app. Am determined to use it and get the shopping down to £100 if possible.

Is that feasible. 2 adults and a toddler? We do like fancy things for certain stuff like good olives, good olive oil, good condiments etc. I think I might do a store cupboard shop on Waitrose as the Sainsbury’s options for wholegrain for example are less than a £ for a pants basics one or £3 for the fancy one. Whereas Waitrose essentials is a good enough quality for £1 IYSWIM.

Last week's meal plan went well, just swapped a couple of meals around due to expiry dates etc. Didn't have sausages for one dinner as we had some of them in a full English on Sunday morning with just soup in the evening.
This week's plan is:

Monday steak and salad (from a fillet of beef I froze in December when on half price offer)
Tuesday beef and broccoli stir fry (to use up remainder of beef fillet)
Wednesday salmon tray bake
Thursday chicken curry
Friday quiche and salad
Saturday sausages and veg
Sunday something from freezer; still pizzas and stuff in there

Breakfasts are usually eggs of some kind, pancakes, or fruit and yoghurt.

I'm so with you on this one.

We still haven't had the spanakopita and the bloody filo pastry is now past it's use by. I'm assuming I can probably still use it for a while, so. might try make one at some point and freeze.

Meantime:

Aubergine, tomato and chorizo pasta
Pork mince stir fry with noodles
Chicken thighs baked with some kind of rice pilaf type thing or potatoes
Fish cakes ala Jamie Oliver (store cupboard version) with new potatoes
Air fried pollock fillets with sauteed greens and wedges
Roasted cauliflower and chickpeas with a satay sauce served on rice
Burgers for DC and DH when I'm out

I'm doing the chickpeas because I ran out of eggs so had to do the emergency aqua faber thing this morning at breakfast - FYI for anyone who's never tried it, it worked surprisingly well! No one complained about the waffles!

Did this plan when it was freezing cold, so lots of winter warmers!
Tonight - roast cauliflower and hazelnut pilaf
Tomorrow - Potato, leek and cheddar chowder
Wed- Tuscan bean stew and ciabatta
Thur - butternut and sage risotto
Fri - with cornbread dumplings
Sat - lentil ragu
Sunday - Shepherdess pie with rosti topping

@Forgottenmyphone I'm always interested in a pilaf - I'll probably do some version of one tonight with my roasted cauliflower and satay sauce... talk me throgh the roast cauliflower and hazelnut one if you can? Is it a 20 step process or quite simple?

@SpaceOP This is the recipe. There's really not too much to do www.bbcgoodfoodme.com/recipes/roast-cauliflower-and-hazelnut-pilaf/

We’ve got a bit of a scrimp on this week so trying to plan some low cost meals!
Mon- Tomato and courgette marscapone pasta bake
Tues- Veggie chilli, tortillas and rice
Weds- Mushroom Stroganoff with crushed potatoes
Thurs- Spaghetti Carbonara with garlic flatbread
Fri- Pizza, standard frozen goodfellas but with a corn salad and super green m+s style salad
Sat- Loaded Mexican wedges with quorn chilli, pickled red onions and guacamole
Sun- Sausages, mash, broccoli, carrots and giant Yorkshire puddings

All pretty basic cheap meals here (although salmon is starting to be a rare treat). On Sunday I’ll make a nice “picnic lunch” for three: filled baguettes, crisps, spinach pie, individual desserts, take 2 portions away on a day trip and leave one in the fridge for DC.

Right I bit the bullet and did it!

Plus Carbonara this evening.

It’s a slow start but trying to set it up so it’s easy.

Mine:

Sweet potato tagine and couscous
Vegetable crumble, baby potatoes and cabbage
Cauliflower and red lentil dal with rice
Same again the next day
Noodles and stir fry
Five bean chilli and cornbread
Whatever's left in the fridge dinner!

Sun Roast beef & veg
Mon Spicy roast peppers & paneer, paratha
Tue Beef Rendang, rice
Wed Samosa tart, tomato & onion salad
Thu Salmon rice bowls
Fri Chicken curry
Sat out

Lunches are soup (minestrone / curried parsnip), carrot & butterbean dip & crudités / flatbread or leftovers from the previous night.

Mon- Chicken and dumpling stew
Tues- leek and celeriac gratin
Wed- Chicken pasta bake
Thurs- Chickpea and roasted parsnip curry
Fri- Fish pie
Sat- Baked Camembert pasta
Sun- Sunday roast

I’m finding dinners easy to plan so far, lunches are a different story!

Planning ahead as it's going to be a hectic week already posted most of this week's meals. We are having a very soupy week next week.

Friday - Taco soup topped with avocado and sour cream
Saturday - Meatball subs with curly fries
Sunday - Persian Chicken & barley soup
Monday- Hong Shao Rou (red braised pork belly), smacked cucumber salad and wok fried greens
Tuesday - Beef pho
Wednesday - Cream of tomato soup with mini cheese toastie croutons (a Tiktok I haven't been able to get out my head!)
Thursday - Huevenos rancheros

Popping back to say that our first attempt at bibimbap was lovely. Easy, although a bit taffy because of lots of components.

Cook mushrooms in garlic and soy
Cook rice
Air fry tofu
Make cucumber and carrot easy pickles, with rice wine vinegar, salt and sugar
Cook spinach in garlic and sesame oil
Make sauce from gochujang, honey, sesame oil, white wine vinegar
Fry eggs
Assemble prettily and top with fried egg and sauce drizzled over, then chop up the egg and mix it all up to eat.

Next time we'll probably lose the spinach or just wilt it into the mushrooms.

Faffy!

Tomorrow - M&S ‘posh dogs’ in buns with fried onions (working late so easy)
Thursday - lamb kofte with pepper, onion, flatbread and halloumi
Friday - butter chicken with rice, onion bhaji and paratha.

Need to food shop Saturday for the week ahead so looking for ideas!

The idea of a roasted cauliflower and satay sauce pilaf sounds divine, how did you do it please?

That sounds delicious @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

Tonight: tomato and feta pasta
Tomorrow: lasagne
Friday: Nando’s chicken, grilled halloumi, salad and rice 😋
Saturday: not sure 🤔
Sunday: beef brisket, Yorkshire puddings etc
Monday: pizzas probably

I love bibimbap but have not made it for yonks. Agree delicious but daffy

This week
Tomorrow: mushroom, pea and asparagus risotto
Saturday: mushroom bolognese
Sunday: cauliflower and broccoli cheese and roasties
Monday: soup and sourdough
Tuesday: jerk tofu, rice and peas
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: west African peanut stew

I've had a massive craving for proper fish and chips recently so we've decided to get a takeaway on Saturday - must be at least 10 years since we last had a chippy takeaway and I'm really excited 😂

After that, the week will be:

Sunday: Chicken kebabs with Greek salad, tzatziki and flatbreads
Monday: Spanish tortilla with leftover Greek salad
Tuesday: Pasta with pesto and roast veg
Wednesday: Sweet potato and lentil curry
Thursday: Greek salad pasta
Friday: Veg fajitas

This week has been a bit meat heavy so balancing that out next week. I normally try to aim for only one pasta dish per week but the ingredients to be used up do lend themselves well, plus I've got a nightmare work week so this makes things quick and easy.

Bibimpap - delicious, taffy, faffy and daffy! 😂

On a roll this week- last night’s quaesadillas were delicious too - and not faffy!

I made bibimpap for the first time this week, too. I used this recipe, but might try using tofu instead of pork next time.
https://www.gousto.co.uk/cookbook/pork-recipes/crispy-pork-bibimbap-with-pak-choi

My plan for next week is:

Monday: butter bean, squash and harrissa soup
Tuesday: endives au gratin
Wednesday: pizza and salad
Thursday: spaghetti puttanesca
Friday: spicy maple salmon with greens and sweet potato wedges
Saturday: chicken tinga (with enough to freeze)
Sunday: potato and bacon hotpot with cabbage and probably some other greens.

We are away in a couple of weeks and I feel like we have so much in the cupboards and freezer so I'm trying to buy only essentials for the next few weeks so it's a bit random this week.

Leek,spinach and chicken Alfredo with linguine

Pork and fennel pie with mash and veggies

Jacket potatoes,beans and cheese

Chicken,salad,chips and homemade winter coleslaw (the same cabbage from Christmas -it's never ending)

Friday we are out all day at the funeral

Katsu chicken curry,rice and peas

Roast beef and trimmings